Boardman’s crime-fighting canine settles into retirement

By DENISE DICK

denise_dick@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

He’s chased his last bad guy, alerted on his last drug stash and tracked his last suspect.

Officer Robby, a veteran of the township police force, hung up the duty badge that he wore across his barrel chest for an emblem marking him retired instead.

Robby, one of the department’s two Belgian malinois police dogs, retired April 21 after eight years alongside Officer Brian Cionni, his handler. Cionni paid the township $1 and will keep his four-legged former partner as a pet.

The dog strained on his leash, pulling for the front door of the township government center when Cionni brought him to the police station earlier this week.

“He wants to be on duty,” Cionni said.

The nearly 10-year-old dog is a big hit with children and civic organizations.

“Can I pet him?” a woman asked Cionni as he and the dog stood in front of the government center.

“Yes, you can pet him,” Cionni answered. “In fact, he’ll insist on it.”

The dog trotted up to people in and outside the building, looking for a head pat or an ear scratch. When the attention givers stopped, Robby rubbed his head against their knee or hand, begging for more.

When he was on duty, though, it was a different story. Cionni’s commands switch from English to Dutch, alerting the dog that it’s time to work.

“When I tell him to lie down, and I say it in English, he lies down,” Cionni said. “But when I tell him to lie down and I say it in Dutch, he lies down, but he knows it means to be ready.”

Read the full story with photos of Robby on Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.